"Modern Silence present a reissue of Metamorphoses, originally released in 1980. A Russian album of electronic interpretations of "classical" pieces by Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi along with John Bull, Vladimir Martynov, Sergei Prokofiev, J. S. Bach, Edward Artemiev and Yuri Bogdanov. Yuri Bogdanov is featured on every track, on some tracks together with Edward Artemiev, composer for Andrei Tarkovsky, and others. Other tracks feature Vladimir Martynov. From the original liner notes: "The record is made on the basis of a kaleidoscope: it is interspersed with pieces of various styles, genres and eras. For example, with these pieces, the authors wanted to show a variety of ways to use a synthesizer, starting with the direct simulation of now or once existing instruments, to the establishment of new not yet known sound systems. Thus, the record is like a small musical walk through time (...)" - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence present a reissue of Albert Aylers The Hilversum Sessions, originally released in 1980. "Recorded in the Dutch city of Hilversum, The Hilversum Sessions presents Albert Ayler in all his blowzy, testifying glory, fronting a quartet that includes trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Sunny Murray. The repertoire includes five Ayler originals, notably his signature tunes Angels, Ghosts, and Spirits. Its easy to forget how starkly original Ayler was, given the untold number of contemporary free saxophonists whove built entire concepts around his sax style. This album is a welcome reminder. Imitators adopt surface characteristics of Aylers music - manifested mostly in the use of certain extended techniques - but very few capture the subtlety of which he was capable: the contrasts of dynamics, articulation, vibrato, register and phrasing; the sense of drama as a solo unfolds. Obviously, hes in collegial company here. However misused his example has been by lesser musicians, this music retains an everlasting power" - Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes. 180 gram vinyl; numbered edition of 500 copies.

Artist: CAGE, JOHN
Title: The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage
Format: Double LP Box
Label: Modern Silence
Country: Malta
Price: $46.00

"Recorded live in the town hall of New York City on May 15, 1958, this historic concert (organized by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg) was a retrospective of Cages work from 1934 to 1958. Here Cages interest in technology, Eastern philosophies, and the concept of "silence" and "chance" as related to composition come to the fore as Cage performs some of the most significant and controversial pieces of his career, several of which ("Six Short Inventions for Seven Instruments," "She Is Asleep," "Music for Carillon," and "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra") were performed here for the first time ever. Box includes two 180-gram LPs and a 12-page book containing comments by John Cage himself. Limited numbered edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence present a live recording, originally broadcast by KPFA Radio from the sculpture court of the San Francisco Museum of Art on January 16, 1965. Coinciding with the 39th birthday of fellow pianist and longtime associate David Tudor, this historic concert with John Cage opens with a duet for cymbal with contact microphones agitated by a wide gamut of objects, and concludes with Variations IV in which loudspeakers outside the performance space interacted with speakers next to the audience. Includes a performance of Christian Wolffs For 1, 2 or 3 People. First vinyl release of this historic performance of minimalist music." - Modern Silence.

"The legendary Don Cherry with his great 1966 quintet featuring Gato Barbieri on tenor sax, Karl Berger on piano, Bo Stief on bass and Aldo Romano on drums. This quintet can also be heard on three releases on ESP-Disk, three volumes titled Live at Café Monmartre 1966 (ESPDISK 4032CD, 4043CD and 4051CD) and with the New York Total Music Company in 1968. This recording is taken from an excellent radio broadcast, presented here for the first time in a glorious vinyl release." - Malta.

"The legendary Don Cherry with his great 1966 quintet featuring Gato Barbieri on tenor sax, Karl Berger on piano, Bo Stief on bass and Aldo Romano on drums. This quintet can also be heard on three releases on ESP-Disk, three volumes titled Live at Café Monmartre 1966 (ESPDISK 4032CD, 4043CD and 4051CD) and with the New York Total Music Company in 1968. This recording is taken from an excellent radio broadcast, presented here for the first time in a glorious vinyl release." - Modern SiIence.

"Modern Silence present a reissue of Oeil Vision, originally released in 1964. One of the best albums by legendary French pianist Jef Gilson, recorded in 1963 with Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Daniel Humair on drums, Jean-Louis Chautemps and Pierre Caron on tenor sax, Guy Pedersen and Henri Texier on bass. A superb line up for this beautiful album including two splendid versions of "Chant-Inca" (a hidden cover of Pharoah Sanders "Creator Has A Masterplan"). Essential French spirit/avant jazz. Gilson was the brilliant mind behind a number of incredible, yet over-looked recordings during the late sixties and early seventies. His music spanned from big band and large led ensemble work to his later explorations with African influenced spiritual jazz. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy continued his early exploration of Thelonious Monks compositions on Evidence, originally released in 1961. Lacy worked extensively with Monk, absorbing the pianists intricate music and adding his individualist soprano saxophone mark to it. On this release, he employs the equally impressive Don Cherry on trumpet, who was playing with the Ornette Coleman quartet at the time, drummer Billy Higgins, who played with both Coleman and Monk, and bassist Carl Brown. Cherry proved capable of playing outside the jagged lines he formulated with Coleman, being just as complimentary and exciting in Monks arena with Lacy. Out of the six tracks, four are Monks compositions while the remaining are lesser known Duke Ellington numbers: "The Mystery Song" and "Something to Live For" (co-written with Billy Strayhorn). Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence present a reissue of The New York Contemporary Fives Consequences, originally released in 1966. The New York Contemporary Five barely lasted a year, all told, but they recorded five albums that shaped the jazz to come. They were a super-group after the fact -- the stellar frontline of Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai all being relative newcomers at the time. Cherry had recently left Ornette Coleman and was only starting to stretch into world music. Shepp was fresh off a stint with Cecil Taylor and had just found his voice as a composer and performer. And Tchicai was virtually unknown. Their scorching music -- aided by the supple and hard-hitting rhythm section of Don Moore and J. C. Moses -- is a thrilling mix of adventurous soloing and post-bop structures, memorable heads and go-for-broke improv. Shepp and Tchicai offered two different ways forward for sax players: Shepp privileged texture, density, and fragmentation -- a pointillist take on Ben Webster or Coleman Hawkins, perhaps. Tchicai was a master of melodic invention, teasing out hard and bright phrases that seem unpredictably off-kilter. Whats still remarkable about these tunes is their sense of internal tension. Theyre wound tighter than a magnet coil, without sacrificing any spontaneity. Theres little thats strictly free about this jazz, but its full of reckless and unexpected drama all the same. "Consequences" is the records barnburner, built on fiery performances and climaxing with a Don Cherry solo that sounds like the aural equivalent of a fifty foot skid mark. Their version of Bill Dixons "Trio" is contemplative by comparison, offering a loping groove, overlapping textures, and a series of wonderfully sustained solos that show off the stylistic strengths of each player." - Modern Silence.

“A live performance of four early works by Steve Reich: "Four Organs," "My Name Is," "Piano Phase," and "Phase Patterns." This 1970 performance marked an important moment in San Francisco Bay Area new music history with the triumphant return to the East Bay by Reich, who studied at Mills College with Luciano Berio and performed the 1964 world premiere of Terry Rileys seminal In C at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The resonant acoustics of the University of California at Berkeley Museums concrete interior were especially appropriate for "Four Organs", with its long additive sustained chords over a maraca pulse. 180-gram LP. Limited edition of 500.” - Modern Silence.

“A live performance of four early works by Steve Reich: "Four Organs," "My Name Is," "Piano Phase," and "Phase Patterns." This 1970 performance marked an important moment in San Francisco Bay Area new music history with the triumphant return to the East Bay by Reich, who studied at Mills College with Luciano Berio and performed the 1964 world premiere of Terry Rileys seminal In C at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. The resonant acoustics of the University of California at Berkeley Museums concrete interior were especially appropriate for "Four Organs", with its long additive sustained chords over a maraca pulse. 180-gram LP. Limited edition of 500.” - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence present Information, Transmission, Modulation And Noise, a set of recordings featuring works by Steve Reich and Philip Glass. During an interview recorded at the KPFA radio station, Steve Reich and Jon Gibson introduced an east coast performance of Steve Reichs masterpiece, Four Organs, as well as an exciting recording of Ghanian drumming which the artist recorded in Ghana. They also introduced the music of Philip Glass, playing a tape of his historical Music In Similar Motion. Personnel: Four Organs by Steve Reich, was performed live in NYC in November of 1969 by Steve Chambers, Art Murphy, Philip Glass on electric organs and Jon Gibson on maracas; Drumming by Steve Reich, was performed by percussionists from Ghana and recorded by Steve Reich; Music In Similar Motion, by Philip Glass, was performed live In NYC in November of 1969 by Steve Chambers and Philip Glass on electric organs, Jon Gibson and Richard Landry on soprano sax, Steve Reich on electric harpsichord." - Modern Silence.

"A legendary recording that pairs Don Cherrys heavenly trumpet stylings, Terry Rileys psychedelic/minimalist organ work and the vibes of Karl Berger in a great live concert recorded in Koln in 1975. Riley is in stunning form playing the kind of endlessly rippling dosed organ drones with a sense of stasis in expansion that is uniquely brain-razzing. Cherrys playing is heart-stoppingly beautiful, curling slow, melancholy arcs and threading high angel tones through Rileys electronic matrix. A great document of a key moment in the history of minimalism music and a beautiful combination of great artists. 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Electronic/avant-garde music pioneer and founder of the French musique concrète movement, Pierre Schaeffer, a radio engineer, believed that any sound could be music, and was one of the first to experiment with tape looping, splicing and sampling. He was also one of the first to record music on magnetic tape. Drawing inspiration from the Italian Futurists, he emphasized the double meaning of the word "play", meaning to play an instrument, but also to have fun and enjoy oneself. Pierre Henry, a classically trained musician, was one of Schaeffers disciples and together they co-wrote the revolutionary "Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul", recorded in 1950. Despite its title, it is not a symphony in the classical sense, but a kind of suite divided into 12 movements. It is a musical collage featuring vocal fragments, that are at times recorded backwards, accelerated or repeated, and other sounds like whistles, footsteps, doors slamming, metallic sounds, and a prepared piano. However, what is important about this piece is not merely its intrinsic musical value, but its influence on so many future generations of musicians in so many genres. "Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul", over half a century later, remains a pioneering experiment in the search for new aural horizons. The Concerto side reveals Henrys personal approach to dissonance, with a strong impact of illogical sequences in the piano "duel": the two instruments seem to collide in a furious rejection of the traditional idea of music, generating a clash of noises that reproduce the sonic pollution of the modern times.
"Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul" (1949-1950 - First concert performance on March 18, 1950, at the Auditorium of the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. First performance as a ballet by Maurice Béjart on July 26, 1955, at the Théâtre de lEtoile in Paris. "Concerto des ambiguïtés for piano and piano" (1950) - First performance on August 7, 1950, over the French National Radio. Coreographic version by Maurice Béjart under the title "Voyage au cur dun enfant (Trip Into The Heart Of A Child)", first performed on September 6, 1955, with Patrick Benda, at the Théâtre de lEtoile in Paris." - Modern Silence.

“Modern Silence present a reissue of Musical Offering, originally released in 1990. Features works by Oleg Buloshkin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edward Artemiev, Edison Denisov and Alfred Schnittke. From the original liner notes: "(...) Please, try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor, an orchestra even without musical instruments. This magic is possible by using the musical synthesizer, ANS. ANS is an instrument with which a composer can not only create but even draw his music without notes and orchestra. A Soviet scientist Evgeny Murzin spent about 20 years creating this apparatus which can join together three processes: music creation, recording and performing. All these processes are rather complicated. You can see the twinkling of different lamps, the rotation of grooved discs made of glass - notes are cut on a glass disc covered with a special layer; The drawings on the glass are sounding notes. To listen to the drawn picture you should press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin. Murzin dedicated his apparatus to Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, thats why he called it ANS. Scriabin, the creator of the Poem of Ecstasy, used in his works a highly chromatic, new type of harmonic style designed to express his beliefs, views and wishes. Soviet music lovers already know some recordings made on ANS from the films Into Space, Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), Siberiade (1979) and others. Works of well-known Soviet composers E. Artemiev, O. Buloshkin, E. Denisov, S. Gubaidulina, A. Schnittke featured on this LP were recorded at the Electronic Music Studio (...)" - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence presents Beton-Studie / Zeitmass für fünf Holzbläser / Klavierstuck XI compositions written by Karlheinz Stockhausen. A collection of some of Karlheinz Stockhausens earliest work, including his earliest piece of musique concrète "Beton-Studie" (aka "Étude") written by Stockhausen in 1952-53 at Pierre Schaeffers studio at the RTF in Paris. Until 1992 this piece was believed to have been lost. The LP also includes the celebrated "Zeitmass" (1955), and "Klavierstück XI, parts I-IV" (1956), both of which helped to cement Stockhausens role as one of the leading German composers of the 20th century. 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Modern Silence presents Kontakte written by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Kontakte (1959-60) was Stockhausens first piece to use both electronics and traditional instruments together, marking a turning point in his career, when his music was beginning to show the influences of American avant-garde jazz and composers like John Cage. In Kontakte, live musicians play alongside a tape recording of percussion sounds that have been altered by different electronic devices (i.e. a ring modulator or a reverberator). Stockhausen wanted the musicians to improvise over the prepared tape, but the musicians were at such a loss that Stockhausen eventually had to score the instrumental parts as well. 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"Schlagzeugern featuring compositions written by Karlheinz Stockhausen. A collection of Stockhausen s most important works from the 1950s, particularly "Gesang der Jünglinge" ("Song of the Youths") (1955-56) which is probably the most iconic piece of electronic music ever written. Only because of Stockhausens complete understanding of electronic equipment, along with his creative genius, was he able to produce this masterwork, the first piece of music to unify vocals and electronics. 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500." - Modern Silence.

"The Manifesto Of Futurism by Italian poet Filippo Marinetti, published in 1909, still has an intoxicating force. "We want to glorify war . . . to destroy museums, libraries, and academies of all kinds," wrote Marinetti. "We shall sing to the great crowds excited by work, pleasure or rioting, the multicoloured, many-voiced tides of revolution in modern capitals." Color was as important as force to the movement, and it was a search for new sound colors that fired the ambitions of artist and instrument builder Luigi Russolo, who, though quieter than Marinetti, is now seen as the "father of noise". Russolos work and ideas anticipated the shape of music to come: the early percussion scores of Edgard Varèse and John Cage; electroacoustic music; recording; graphic scores -- not to mention the inevitable sonic onslaught of effects and sound design in movies, TV, and computer games. In his 1913 manifesto, LArte Dei Rumori ("The Art Of Noises"), Russolo argued that the history of music, from primitive races through to 19th-century harmonic sophistication, was a progression that went naturally from ancient silence to modern noise: "The limited circle of pure sounds must be broken, and the infinite variety of noise-sound conquered." La Musica Futurista Nellitalia E Nel Mondo is a stunning anthology of true pioneers of electronic/noise music. Features works by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Antonio Russolo, Rodolfo De Angelis, Alexandr Mossolov Eiar Orchestra Victor De Sabata, Arthur Honegger, Dixon Cowell, Julius Ehrlich, Paul Whiteman, Walter Ruttmann, and George Antheil. Comes in a special "flap" deluxe gatefold sleeve, an Italian futurist newspaper replica." - Modern Silence.

"Le Groupe de Recherches Musicales (The Group of Musical Research) of the O.R.T.F. (Office of the French Radio-Television) is known in the world principally as the promoter of an original technique of realization as well as reflection: Musique concrète. For more than fifty years, Le Groupe de Recherches Musicales has founded its experience, its methods of research and particular techniques, upon a confrontation between the musical act, reflection upon its elements, experimentation on sound sources, and the electro-acoustical means. Grouped around Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle, composers and researchers try to give new direction to musical activity through the conjugated action of a program of "Fundamental Research" on the languages of music (concrete, electronic, but also instrumental and oriental) and a program of "Expression", resulting in original compositions as well as essays for the ballet, theater, cinema, or television. In this LP, there are some great examples of the incredible production of many of the most celebrated composers of the movement: Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bernard Parmegiani, Ernst Krenek, Luc Ferrari and Ivo Malec along with Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle." - Modern Silence.

"Le Groupe de Recherches Musicales (The Group of Musical Research) of the O.R.T.F. (Office of the French Radio-Television) is known in the world principally as the promoter of an original technique of realization as well as reflection: Musique concrète. For more than fifty years, Le Groupe de Recherches Musicales has founded its experience, its methods of research and particular techniques, upon a confrontation between the musical act, reflection upon its elements, experimentation on sound sources, and the electro-acoustical means. Grouped around Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle, composers and researchers try to give new direction to musical activity through the conjugated action of a program of "Fundamental Research" on the languages of music (concrete, electronic, but also instrumental and oriental) and a program of "Expression", resulting in original compositions as well as essays for the ballet, theater, cinema, or television. In this LP, there are some great examples of the incredible production of many of the most celebrated composers of the movement: Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bernard Parmegiani, Ernst Krenek, Luc Ferrari and Ivo Malec along with Pierre Schaeffer and François Bayle." - Modern Silence.

Artist: V/A
Title: Piano Music Of The Near East (Performed by Amiram Rigai, piano)
Format: LP
Label: Modern Silence
Country: Malta
Price: $27.00

"Modern Silence present a reissue of Piano Music Of The Near East, originally released in 1963. This stunning 20th-century piano music was inspired by national traditions but uses the language and form of Western music. Features pieces by: Manolis Kalomiri, Paul Ben-Haim, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Andre Amine Hossein, Anis Fuleihan, and Amiran Rigai. All works played on piano by Amiran Rigai. From the original liner notes: "In the countries of the Near East, as in any other country where occidental culture is adoptive, musical composition modeled after its occidental counterpart came into being out of an intellectual necessity: that of finding a substitute for a traditional music which, under the dictate of its very essence, resisted evolution and was consequently in decay. It was logical, as far as both the ideals and the basic methods of this process of substitution were concerned, that the fashioning be done after the examples of the national schools of the late nineteenth-century Europe. The first stream of the westernized near eastern music was therefore romantic (or post-romantic, or impressionist) in its overall gesture. Regardless of the composition date of each individual opus, all of the works recorded here fall into this category: music inspired by national traditions (musical, or other), displaying at least that intangible called national character whenever a national element is not evident, but employing a language and a medium belonging to western music (...)" - Modern Silence.

"The compositions on Side I of this record represent attempts at new means of musical expression. Some utilize conventional musical instruments and sounds in startlingly new ways, giving an impression of an actual new sound being created; some use instruments new to music (electrical, mechanical and natural) adding to the composers palette of timbres and tonalities. . . . SIDE II of this record is meant as a tool for those using new sounds and techniques in composing. There are basic sounds (some of which are hard to come by) and basic sound patterns, together with examples of how these sounds and patterns may be utilized." - original liner notes by Eugene Bruck.

"Sounds of New Music is a legendary collection of 18 compositions from the 1920s to the mid-1950s; composers include Edgard Varèse, Henry Cowell, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Julius Meytuss, Alexander Mossolov, Halim El-Dabh, and John Cage, whose "Dance" is performed on a transformed Steinway piano that gives the music an almost primitive quality. Side B (The Experiments) includes works by Ussachevsky, Henry Jacobs, and Roger Marin & Frederic Ramsey, Jr. Originally released by Folkways Records in 1957." - Modern Silence.